My NS Adventure: Part 1- getting There

I can still vividly remember the day the news about the successful candidate for NS came out, we were all in class, it was Pn. Safrina's English session-god, I miss her and all the other English teachers- and everyone was on their phone, texting.

Yes, usage of mobile phone in class. Don't be so surprise. It's a norm. Wait, where was I? Oh right, in the end, I found out I got it, and what ensued later was essentially me rebelling at the thought of having to spend 3 months in a camp. Judge me all you want, but I have strong reasons to believe that people die going there, and they actually do!

Over exaggeration,maybe, but the point is, getting to know that you'll spend 3 months as a NS trainee is as if knowing that all your post-high school plans will be forced to cancel.( Driving license,college, growing your HAIR long, etc). Basically, it kinda sucks.

A few weeks later, I found myself in front of the computer, researching and googling my campsite(Kem PLKN Princess Haliza) and nothing much came up besides a few Malay bloggers posting their past experience there, which didn't help much.

" yezzzz, sangat menyeronokkan lahzz", " sayer so sayangz semua kapten dan jurulatihz, best gilerr"

You get what I mean. So, here I am, recollecting my memories of my 3 months stint there, hoping that it'll be a little help for future NS trainees attending this camp, those who were in my position, when only Google comes up with Rempit talk. And I just wanted to do this, to get closure.

MY point of view.

Camp Site(Introduction)

The morning of 3rd January 2011 dawned upon me, i reluctantly got myself out from bed, and headed to the ZETRO building in Wangsa Maju. I wasn't as seriously, emotionally distraught as the first NS trainee I saw there, who was sobbing uncontrollably. I shrugged that off, but deep down, I know if I had it my way, I would want to turn the car around and go back home. Took a picture with Lemuel, who was there with his family, and not long after, went on different buses, different routes, and different hopes of what would be our destination for 2+ months.

Camp Princess Heliza has always been known as the celebrity camp, due to some local celebrities, namely Diana Danielle, Alif, and Suki , taking part in the NS stint during their years. So hey, for those who think they are imprisoning themselves by going, Just have in mind that these 3 went there before, and all is well. But, if you're such a sissy and can't handle the rough and tough, then wrong camp ah, brader! This one will suit you better, in this case.

Arrived there, and we were all quickly arranged in the nearby hall, which soon turned out to be, like, the most important place of your stay there, where before you eat, sleep, perform activities, hear countless speeches(will get back to this one), get lectured to, play games, you have to gather there.

The first day was a particularly long day, and I don't see it changing anytime in the future. this is when the registering takes place, and we start handing in things that might be suspicious for them, a.k.a Panadol. Then, its time to line up, and one by one, we will be sorted out into the four different groups in the camp, eg: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and DELTA, the last being my company for the entire stay there. Before we left for our respective dorms, two officials came and ask each one of us whether we were captains of clubs, members of the prefect board, and if we could play any sport.

Ok, this part was a bit tricky really, and honestly, I could see right through to their real intentions. All of our informations were recorded, so obviously what we say is going to be used as a reference to when they start choosing candidates for the Penghulu/Penghuluwati, ya know, all the high ranking positions in camp, well,for the NS trainee standard at least. Funny part was, when that guy asked me, " Dik, ada main sukan apa-apa tak?", I proudly replied, " Oh, ada, main tennis, masa Form 3 represent daerah lagi" just because I know NO WAY A NS CAMP will have a tennis court, not event this camp. Sure enough, he went " Oh, bagus tuu, tapi sorrylah, sini tak ada tennis". He could have just said,

" YO BOY, ONLY GENERIC SPORTS HERE",

and I would have just been on my way, huh? :)

The NS dorms for guys in this campsite, is as far as it can get within the confines of the campsite, at a corner, where you have to walk inwards, and if you're as unlucky as I am, which is to say, you become a Delta-ian, then your dorm would be the FURTHEST. I remembered lugging my bag of clothes and instant food, which was super heavy, and walked for what felt like miles. But hey, you'll get use to it, I did! and hell was it a good daily workout!

I settled in, and made friends with my dorm mates, and sort of took everything into perspective at once. What I felt was very important for me is to feel right at home as soon as possible, and to not be afraid of what's to come. Trust me, any negativity vibe wouldn't be of much help, so keeping cool was vital.

I can't possibly blog about all 72 days I was there in just one blog posts. So, I'll probably do it gradually until the end of June, hopefully. I look forward to telling you guys all about my adventures there!